Recoil-operated magazine-gun



(No Model.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

R. M. GATLIN. RBGQIL UPBRATED MAGAZINE GUN.

No. 454,993. Patented June 30, 1891..

(No Model.) 4 sheetssheet 2. R. M. GATLIN. REGOIL OPBRATBD MAGAZINE GUN.

No. 454,993. Patented June 30, 1891.

wllpllll ...1. M

4 Sheets-#Sheet (No Model.)

R. M. CATLIN. RBGOIL OPERATBD MAGAZINE GUN.

Patented June 30, 1891.

mul! H um t (No Mom.) 4 sham-sheen 4. R. M. GATLIN. RECOIL OPBRATBD MAGAZINE GUN.

No. 454,993. Patented June 30, 1891...

iik

. NTTED STATES PATENT EEicE.

Recon-cesante MAGAZINE-GUN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 454,993, dated June 30, 1891. Application filed August 28, 1889. Serial No. 322,171. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Beitknown that I, ROBERT MAYO CATLIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tuscarora, county of Elko, and State ofNevada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Magazine-Guns,fu11y described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to that general class of tire-arms known as magazine or repeating guns, but theinvention relates particularly to a gun ot this class in which the energy developed by the recoil of the gun when it is tired isstored up and utilized in extracting the empty cartridge-shell, introducing a new cartridge into the barrel, and cocking the hammer for the next discharge.

In order to aid ina more ready understand ing of the detailed description of the construction and operation ot the gun, which will be hereinafter given, a brief preliminary description of its organization will be irstgiven. rlhe general organization of the gun is much the same as that of the well-known Winchester. The barrel is Inortised vertically at its breech, so as to permit the cartridge to be introduced from beneath and the empty shell to be ejected at the top. The magazine is located beneath the barrel and is provided at its rear end with a carrier which serves to transfer the cartridges one by one from the magazine into proper position to be introduced into the barrel and at the same time eject the empty shell resulting from the last discharge. The barrelof the gun, however, instead of being rigidly attached to the stock is made capable of a limited longitudinal movement with relation to the stock, it being guided in its movementby guides or thimbles which surround the barrel and are secured to the magazine, which latter is secured rigidly to the stock. Located at the rear end of the barrel is a powerful spring, which, when the gun is tired, receives and is compressed by the force of the recoil. The expansion of this spring, which takes place immediately after the force ot' the recoil is expended, restores the barrel to its original position, and in so doing operates through suitable connections to withdraw the Vbreech-bolt or block to open the breech, ex-

tract the empty shell from the barrel, cock the hammer for the next discharge, and introd uce a 'fresh cartridge into the barrel. The gun is also provided with a hand-lever located beneath the stock in the usual position, by which the gun can, when desired, be loaded and the hammer cocked in the ordinary manner. Thetrigger mechanism is also so constructed that the gunner can, when he desires, allow the hammer to operate automatically to re the cartridge immediately after it has been introduced into the barrel by the recoiloperated mechanism, and. thus the several cartridges contained in the magazine may be automaticallyintroduced into the barrel and iired in succession without any manipulation ot' the gun upon the part of the gunner. The organization thus brietly outlined will now be described more in detail, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section of a gun embodying the present invention, the parts being shown in. the position they occupy when the gun is loaded, but with the hammer resting upon the tiring-pin.. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same, taken through the barrel. Fig. 3 is an enlarged View of a portion of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a similar View showing the parts in the position they occupy after the ring has taken place and after the spring', which has absorbed the force of the recoil, has expanded and operated to retract the breech-bolt and extract theempty shell, and after the carrier has raised a fresh cartridge into position to be introduced into the barrel by the forward movement of the breech-bolt. Fig. 5 is a crosssection taken upon the line 5 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a cross-section taken upon the line G of the same ligure. Fig. 7 is a cross-section taken upon the line 7 of the saine figure. Fig. S is an enlarged view of'a portion of Fig. 4, showing the trigger mechanism in a different position.

Referring to said drawings it is to be understood that the barrel A of the gun is free to move longitudinally for a limited distance independent of the stock and the other parts. The barrel is held in position and guidedv in its movements by rings or thimbles 2d, which surround the barrel and are rigidly connected tothe magazine B, which is located beneath the barrel. The guides 2O are provided with IDO spring-extensions 2, which press against the y ment of the barrel and breech-piece is limited by a shoulder 3,formed upon vthe guide D, which engages with the' corresponding shoulder formed upon the breech-piece. The barrel :is normally held in its forward position by rneansof apowerful spring G, which is arranged within the tubular guide D and abuts `against .the rear end of the breech-piece of the barrel. The rear end of the guide is closed byfa screw-plug 21, by which the ltension of the spring Gr can be adjusted with great ynicety. The breech-piece C, which forms the `continuation of the barrel, is mortised vertically, as indicated at 22, so as to `receive the cartridge afrom beneath and allow the empty shell to be ejected upward through the inortise, in the manner common in this general class of fire-arms. The mortise 22 in the breech-piece registers with asimilar vertical inortise 23, formed in the stock and with which communicates the rear end of the magazine B, which is located beneath the barrel in the-usual position. The magazineis provided with ,the usual means for receiving its supply ,of cartridges a, and with the usual springpressed .follower 24 for moving kthe cartridges rearward into the mortise 23 and into position to be "moved upward into register with v the bore of the barrel.

- barrel, is a reciprocating' breech bolt or block H, which is arranged to move forward through the mortise .22, with its forward end in position .to close the rear end of the barrel 4and hold .the cartridge therein. The breech-bolt H is normally maintained in its forward position by means of a spring l, arranged between a shoulder on the breech-bolt and the rear `end of the breech-piece C. The breechbolt is provided with a rearward extension 2,5, which passes through an opening in the rear end of the breech-piece and through an an .opening in .the plug .21, and is in position when lthe breech-bolt is retracted to engage with the hammer and rock it to the rearward into position of full-cock, the hammer being preferably provided upon its upper side with a small bowl 4to reduce the friction between the hammer and the extension 25 as the latter ypasses above the former, as shown iu Figs. et and 8. The breech-bolt and its extension tension 25 land arranged to receive the blow of the hammer. The firing-pin is provided .with the usual light spring 5 for normally holding it, slightly retracted from the cap in the end of the cartridge.

Located within the mortise 23 is a carrier 27, which is of a suitable form to receive a cartridge and is normally maintained in position to permit the rear cartridge contained in the magazine to be pressed rearward into the carrier by the spring-follower. This carrier is adapted to move vertically in the mortises l 23 22, so as to.carrythe cartridge contained in it from the position in which it is received from the magazine (see Fig. 3) to a position in register with the boreof the barrel. (See For this purpose the carrier is carried upon two arms 28,'which are pivoted to the frame E, as indicated at 29. Located beneath the arms 28 is a spring 30, the tendency of which is to raise the arms and the carrier y 27 into position to .carry the cartridge conwith the bore ofthe barrel. The carrier is normally maintained in its depressed position by means of side fianges 19, (see Fig. 6,) which bear against the under side of the breechbolt H.

The breech-bolt H is locked in its forward position, so as to form a solid abutment for the rear end of thecartridge when the same is exploded, by means of a latch 3l, which is pivoted to the breech-piece C of the barrel, as indicated at 18, and -the forward end of which enters a recess G, formed in the under side of the breech-bolt, so as to hold the latter rigidly in its forward position. The latch 31 is provided with abifurcated l-rearwardextension having a pin 7, which is acted upon by a spring 32 to normally hold the latch in position to enter the recess 6. The pin 7 is also acted upon by the incline 8 of a block 33, which forms a tripping device, which is so ar- IOO IIO

ranged vthatas the barrel and its breech-piecel C near the limit of their rearward movement, as willI be hereinafter explained, the pin will ride up the incline S, and thereby rockythe latch 31, so as to trip it and disengage it front of its' pivot 18, so that the tendency of.

the latch is to disengage itself from the recess G, and the spring 32 is so formed, as will also .be observed, that it does not act to rock the latch into position to enter the recess 6, except when the barrel which carries the latch is at or near the forward limit of its movement. The purpose of this will also appear when the operation of the gun is described.

The breech-bolt H is provided near its rear end with two laterally-proj ectingstuds 9, (see Fig. 2,) which kpass through slots in the sides of the breech-piece C and enter slotted openings in a pair of levers 34, which are fulcrumed upon a bolt 35, passing through the frame E. The levers 34 are provided between the studs 9 and their f ulcrum 35 with forward projections, which are connected by a bolt 36, which passes through slotted openings in the bifurcated lower end of a lever 37, which is fulcrumed upon the frame E, as indicated at 38, with its upper end normally in position to be engaged by the forward end of the latch 31 when the latter is rocked downward by the incline 8, as will be hereinafter explained.

The principal functions of the parts which have thus far been described are to utilize the force of the recoil due to the discharge of the gun to reload and cock the same for the next discharge. It is, however, as will be readily seen,necessary that the gun should be loaded before this automatic reloading can take place. It is therefore necessary to provide means by which the gun can, when necessary, be loaded by hand. I will therefore before describing the operation of the gun in automatically reloading and cooking by means of `the recoil describe the construction and operation of the devices by which the gun `is loaded in the first instance and also the trigger mechanism. The block 33 is made capable of vertical movement and is provided at its lower end with a stud 39, which is engaged by a cam 10, which is pivoted upon the bolt 35, and is provided with a rearwardly-extending lever K, which forms the trigger-guard in substantially the same manner as in the well-known Winchester. The cam 10 is also provided with two laterally-projecting shoulders 17, which are arranged to engage with the levers 34, so as to rock the latter rearward, as will be presently explained, there being, however, suflicient lost motion between the shoulders 17 andthe levers 34 to permit the block 83 to be raised to rock the latch 31 and disengage it from the recess 6 before the shoulders 17 will engage with the levers and commence to move the breech-bolt rearward. The hammer L is of substantially the usual form, it being fulcrumed, as indicated at 40, and provided with a spring 41, causing it to strike against the firing-pin with suflcient force. rlhe hammer is maintained in its cocked position by means of a sear 42, which is pivoted at 11 and is provided with a spring 43, the tendency of which is to throwit into engagement with the usual notches upon the hammer. The trigger 44 is pivoted as indicated at 12, and is provided with a spring 45, by which it is normally rocked toits forward position. Pivoted upon the trigger is a bellcrank lever 13, one arm of which is bifurcated and straddles the sear and hammer with its ends projecting beneath a stud 14, which passes through the hammer. The lever 13 is provided with a spring 15,the tendency of 4which is to rock the lever into position to maintain the arms of its bifurcated end in engagement with the stud 14. The sear 42 is provided with a shoulder 16, which is so positioned with relation to the lever 13 that when the hammer is in its cocked posi- '19, as indicated in Figs, 1 and 3.

tion the crotch of said lever will be in position to engage with the sear above the shoulder, while, when the hammer is in its nncocked position the crotch of the lever 13 will be in position to pass beneath the shoulder 16.

The remainingfeatures in the construction and organization of the gun will be described in connection with the explanation of its operation, which is as follows: The magazine having been supplied with cartridges, the rear cartridge in the line will be forced out of the rear end of the magazine into the carrier27, where it will rest between the flanges Assuming now that no cartridge is in the barrel of the gun, the manner of loading is as follows: The lever K will be swung from the position shown by full lines in Fig. 4 to the position shown by dotted lines in said figure. During the first of the movement of the lever the cam 10 will act upon the stud 39 and raise the block 33 against the pin 7, so as to rock the latch 31 against the tension of the spring 32 and out of engagement with the recess 6, thereby releasing the breech-bolt H, so that it maybe moved rearward against the tension of the spring I. After this takes place the continued movement of the lever K will bring the shoulders 17 into engagement with the levers 34, thereby rocking said levers from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 4. As the levers 34 are thus rocked to` the rearward they act upon the studs 9 and move the breech-bolt to the rearward into the position shown in Fig. 4, thereby compressing the spring I. The spring G being much more powerful than the spring I, the barrel will not be moved rearwardly. As the breech-boltis thus moved to the rearward, its extension 25 acts uponthe hammer L and cocks it,in which position it is retained by the sear 42, as also indicated in Fig. 4. It will be understood that the hammer is partially cocked by the rearward movement of the breech-bolt with the barrel in the recoil movement, the further retraction of the breech-bolt by the spring G completing the movement of the hammer by bringing it to the position of full-cock. From an examination of Figs. 3 and 4 it will be apparent that the hammer, if desired, may be cocked wholly by the recoil movement, the arc through which the hammer moves varying but slightly from half-cock to full-cock. If the sine of the arc of full-cock be made equal to the distance the barrel moves in the recoil, it is evident that the recoil will full-cock the hammer. As soon as the breech-bolt II has been retracted, as just described, so as to be withdrawn from its position above the flanges 19 of the carrier, the spring 30 acts to raise the carrier and the cartridge contained therein from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 4,thereby bringing the cartridge directly in front of the breech-bolt and in register with the bore of f the barrel. As the cartridge is thus raised the flange upon its rear end passes within the hooks 46, formed TOO IIO

upon the sides ofthe front end of the breechy bolt,.as indicatedin Figs. 2 and 4. These hooks form the extractor for the emptyshell; but it is to be understood that the extractor may be of different-form, if preferred. As soon as the breech-bolt has been retractedwith the resultssufficiently far to carry the rear end of the' cartridge and the head of the bolt beyond the 'flanges19 of the cradle, the studs 9 engage l with inclines 47, formed upon the upper edges of the arms 28 and depress said arms against the tension of the spring 30, so as to restore the cradle to its normal position and permit the next cartridge in the magazine to be forced rearward onto the cradle. It will be observed vthat'as the breech-bolt is moved forward' to dri-ve the cartridge into the barrel it passes through the carrier and below the flanges19; but said iianges,.being made of spring metal, will spread suciently torreadily pass over the breech-bolt asv the carrier is restored to itsl depressed position bythe studs 9. As the breechbolt reaches the limit oflits forward movement and when ithas fully entered the cartridge into the bore of the barrel, the spring 32, acting upon the stud 7, will rock the latch 31`and cause it to enter the recess 6,' soas to lock the breech-bolt in position. The gun is nour loaded and in condition for firing;

To iire the gun, pressure is applied to the trigger, so as to move the lever 13- rearward and cause its crotch to lengage with the sear 42. above the shoulder 16, thereby rocking the sear upon its pivot 11, so as to release the hammer and allow it to strike againstthe iiring-pin and' explode the cartridge. As soon asl the explosion takes place, the force of the expanding gases will cause the barrel an dv the breech-piecey C con iected thereto to recoil against the ten ion o thespring G, thereby compressing saidsprinfr. The extent of theV rearward movementrofthe barrel during the recoil will depend upon the strength of the spring G and the size of the charge; but the two will in practice preferably be so adj usted that the rearward movement of the barrel will be about halfan inch. .As the barrel and its breech-piece-are moved rearward by the force of the recoil the stud 7 of the latch 31 travels on the straight upper edge of the block 33, thereby allowing the latch to remain in the recess 6 and lock the breech-bolt rigidly in. its position to prevent the rearward -movement'of the cartridge-shell in the barrel, and this continuesl until the limit of the rearward movement of the barrel has been nearly reached, when the stud 7 engages with the incline 8 of the block 33, thereby tripping'the latch so as to release the breechbolt and at the same time carry the-forward end of the latch into a position to engage with the upper end of the lever 37 whengthc latch moves forward,v as will presently beexplained. At the time this takes place the barrel has reached the limit of its rearward lmovement, an d the full effect of the powderhas been exerted upon the ball. As soon as the full force of the recoil-has been expended in compressing the spring G the-spring willex-pand toits normal condition, and in thus expanding will move the barrel and its breech-piece C forward and restore them to their normal position. As the barrel is thus moved forward the latch 31 will engage with the upper end of the lever-37 and rock it upon its fulcrum, so as to move the levers 34 rearward to the position shown in Fig. 4, andthis Vwill operate, as already explained, to retract the breech-bolt against the spring I andfcock the hammer. As the breech-bolt is retracted its hooks 46 vbeing in engagement with the flange of the empty cartridge-shell, will extract it from the barrel, and as the breech-bolt reaches thelimit of its rearward movement the spring 30 will raise the carrerandbring a fresh cartridge into position in front' of the breech- 1 bolt, as before explained. As the carrier is l raised the flanges 19 will engage with the vempty shell and drive it out from betweenV v the hooks 46 and expel it from the top ofthe Just as the barrel arrives atthe mortise 22.- limitk of its forward-movement the pin 7 will engage with the forward end of the spring-32 and rock the latch 31 upward, so as to disen- From what has been said it will readily be seenthat the reloading of the gun and recocking of the hammer follow very quickly upon the discharge. y For this reasonf it mi-ghthappen, if means were ,notl provided for preventing it, that the gunner should continue the pressure upon the trigger so long after the discharge as to prevent. the sear from engaging with the notch on the hammer, to retain it in itscocked position, and thus a premature second discharge might takeplace. To

prevent this the sear is provided with the vshoulder 16 and the hammery with the pin 14 to engage with the end of the lever 1-3. As soon as the crotch of the lever 13 is pressed against the sear above the shoulder 16 to release the hammer, and as the hammer de` scends the pin 14 engages with the forked end of the lever 13 and rocks said lever down'- As soon as this IIO ward to such a position, as indicated in Fig. 3, as to allow the shoulder 16 to pass above the fork and thus leave the scar free to engage with the notches of the hammer when the latter is cocked by the retraction of the breech-bolt, as before explained, and this will be the case even though the gunner continue to press the trigger slightly.

rlhere may be cases when it will be desirable to remove the sear permanently out ofengagement with the hammer, so as to allow the hammer to descend automatically immediately upon the forward movement of the breech-bolt and thus explode the cartridge without waiting for the gunner to press the trigger. Then this is desired, the gunner will draw the trigger back as far as possible and hold it in that position, which will allow the crotch of the lever 13 to pass beneath the shoulder 16 of the sear and act against the sear at that point to rock the sear away from thehammer, as indicated in Fig. 8. By drawing the trigger to and holding it in this position the hammer will not be arrested in its cocked position, but will descend immediately upon the forward movement of the breechbolt,and its inertia will be suiiicient when it is arrested by the arrival of the bolt at the lilnit of its forward movement to drive the firing-pin forward with sufficient force to explode the cartridge, and by this means the gun will be successively loaded and fired until the entire magazine is exhausted, without any action on the partof the gunner further than the continued holding of the trigger in the position shown in Fig. 8.

The form of the breech bolt or block may be varied without departing substantially from the invention, and the form and arrangement of the connections for transmitting the power of the spring G to the breech bolt Aor block may also be varied without departing from the invention.

It will frequently be desirable to remove the cartridge from the gun-barrel, so as to leave the gun in an unloaded condition when 1t is not required for use. To enable this to be most readily accomplished without emptying the entire magazine, the magazine is provided just at its rear end, and at the point of its junction with the cradle 27, with a springpressed latch 4S, the upper end of which is arranged to be moved into position behind the rearmost cartridge in the magazine, so as to prevent said cartridge from passing into the cradle, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 7. lVhen, therefore, it is desired to remove the cartridge from the barrel, the latch 4S is moved to and held inl this position, and the lever K is operated, so as to withdraw the cartridge from the barrel and allow the cartridge contained in the carrier to be raised into position in front of the breech-bolt. As the carrier is raised, the cartridge withdrawn from the barrel will be ejected through the top of the mortise 22. Upon the reverse movement of the-lever K the cartridge contained in the carrier will pass into the barrel, and by then repeating the operation this seeond cartridge can be removed, leaving the gun uncharged.

XVhat I claim isl. The combination, with the longitudinal ly-movable barrel. of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, and a breechbolt operated to open the breech by the return movement of the spring, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the longitudinally-inovable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, and ya breechbolt and extractor operated by the return movement of the spring to open the breech and extract the empty shell, substantially as described.

8. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, a breech-bolt operated by the return movement of the spring to open the breech, a firing-pin, and a hammer cocked by the return movement of the spring, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a longitudinallymovable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, a breech-bolt and extractor operated by the return movement of the spring to open the breech and extract the empty shell, a firing-pin, and a hammer cocked by the return movement of the spring, substantially as described.`

5. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, a breech-bolt operated by the return movement of the spring to open the breech, a magazine, and a spring-actuated carrier for transferring the cartridges from the magazine to the barrel when the breech is open, substantially as described.

G. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, a breech-bolt and extractor operated by the return movement of the spring' to open the breech and extract the empty shell, a magazine, and a spring-actuated carrier for transferring the cartridges from the magazine to the barrel when the breech is opened, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with the barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil, a breech-bolt operated bythe return movement of the spring to open the breech, and a handlever connected to said breech-bolt for operating the latter independently of its automatic action, substantially as described.

S. rlhe combination, with the barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil, a breech-bolt operated by the return mo vement of the spring to open the breech, and another spring put under tension by the opening of the breech and reacting' upon the breech-bolt IIO to close the breech when the force of the breech-opening spring is expended, substantially as described.

9. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension bythe recoil of the barrel, a breech-bolt operated 'by the return movement of the spring to open the breech, and another spring put under tension by the opening of the breech and reacting upon the breech-bolt to close the breech when the force ot the breechopening springds expended, substantially as described.

10. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, a breechbolt operated by the return movement of the spring to open the breech, a latch for locking the breech-bolt in position to close the breech, and a tripping device for operating the latch to release the bolt at or near the limit of the recoil movement, substantially as described.

11. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, a breechbolt operated by the return movement ot' the spring to open the breech, a latch for locking y the breech-bolt in position to close the breech, a tripping device for operating the latch to release the bolt at or near the limit of the recoil movement, and a hand-lever and connections for operating the boltfand latch independently of their automatic action, substantially as described.

12, The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring` put under tension by the recoil of the barrel and reacting to return the barrel to its normal position, and a breech-bolt operatedbythe return movement of the spring to open the breech, substantially as described.

13. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, and a breech-bolt moving with the barrel during the recoil movement, said breech-bolt and barrel being moved in opposite directions by the return movement of the spring to open the breech, substantially as described.

14. rlhe combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a breech-bolt moving with the barrel during the recoil, and a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel and moving thebarrel and breeeh-boltsimultaneously in opposite directions in resuming its normal condition, substantially as described.

15. The combina-tion, with the longitudinallymovable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel and reacting to returnthe barrel to its normal position, and a breech-bolt connected to the barrel and operated by its return movement to open the breech, substantially asdescribed. v

16. The combination, with a longitudinallymovable barrel, of a springput under tension bythe recoil of the barrel and reacting to return the barrel toits normal position, a breech-bolt connected to and operated by the return movement of the barrel to open the breech, a latch for locking the breech-bolt in position to close the breech, and a tripping device for operating the latch to release the bolt at or near the limit of the recoil movement, substantially as described.

17. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, and reacting to return the-barrel to its normal position,

and a hammer cocked by said return movement ofthe spring, substantially as described.

1S. The combination, With the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, and a hammer` partially cocked by the recoil movement of the barrel and brought to vfull-cock by the return movement ot the spring, substantially as described.

19. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, of a spring put under tension by the recoil of the barrel, a breechbolt, a lever having a lo'ng armconneeted to said breech-bolt, and a short arm acted upon by the springin its return movement, whereby the breech-bolt is operated to open the breech, substantially as described.

20. The combination, With the longitudinally-movable barrel and its breech-bolt, of a compound lever connected to and operating the breech-bolt to open the breech, means for returning the barrel to its normal position after recoil, and a latch carried by the barrel land engaging and actuating the lever for the retraction of the breech-bolt as the barrel re- -turnsto its normal position, substantially as described.

21. The combination, With the longitudinally-movable barrel and its breech-bolt, of a compound lever connected to and operating the breech-bolt to open the breech, means for returning the barrel to its. normal position after recoil, a latch carried by thebarrel and locking the breech-bolt to the barrel during the recoil'movement, and a tripping device moving said latch into position to release the breech-bolt and to engage and operate the lever as the barrel returns to its normal position, substantially as described.

22. The' combination, with the longitudinallymovable barrel, of a breech-bolt retracted to open the breech when the recoil movement is completed, a latch carried by the:

IOO

IOS

IIO

forward movement, and a tripping' device rocking the latch to release the bolt when the barrel is at or near the limit of the recoil movement, substantially as described.

24. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel and its breech-bolt, of latch 31, carried by said barrel, alever mechanism operated by said latch in the forward movement of the barrel for the retraction of the breech-bolt, and a tripping device throwing the latch out of engagement with the lever mechanism when the breech-bolt has been fully retracted, substantially as described.

25. The combination, with the longitudinally-movable barrel, its breech-piece and breech-bolt, of the spring G, placed at the rear of the breech-piece and surrounding the breech-bolt, connections between the spring G and the breech-bolt, whereby the return movement of the spring retracts the breechbolt, and a spring I inside the breech-piece put under tension by the retraction of the breech-bolt and operating to return thebreechbolt to its normal position when the force of spring G is expended, substantially as described.

26. The combination, with the hammer and its recoil-operated cooking mechanism, of a sear for holding the hammer in its cocked position, a trigger carrying a pivoted lever arranged to engage with said sear to release the hammer, and a stud upon the hammer arranged to engage with said lever and roel: the same to release the sear when the hammer falls, substantially as described.

27. The Combination, with the breech-bolt H, of a spring-pressed carrier 27, through which the breech-bolt passes in closing the breech, and means for depressing the carrier after the breechebolt has passed through it, said carrier being provided with one or more spring-flanges yielding to allow the carrier to be depressed and )holding the carrier in its depressed position as the breech-bolt is retracted, substantially as described.

2S.' The combination, with the breech-bolt I-I, of a spring-pressed carrier 27, through which the breech-bolt passes in closing the breech, pivoted arms 2S, supporting said carrier and provided with cam-surfaces engaged by the breech-bolt in its forward movement, whereby the carrier is depressed against the tension ot' its spring, said carrier being pro-A vided with one or more spring-flanges yielding to allow the carrier to be depressed and 'u holding the carrier in its depressed position as the breech-bolt is retracted, substantially as described.

20. The carrier 27, composed of arigid tube of sutcient size to ,admit the cartridge and having the spring-anges 19 on each side forming a slot normally of less width than the bore of the tube, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto setmy hand in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. s

ROBERT MAYO CATLIN. XVtnesses:

E. H. MEAD,V J. B. FITZGERALD. 

